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There are children in Iraq that are alive because myself and my team were there.

Anybody here ever look into the soul dead eyes of a woman liberated from a chamber where she was tied legs splayed to a bed as a rape toy where she spent over a year taking Haji dick as many times a day as they felt like giving it to her?

How about give the only clean water they have to drink all day in 140 degrees to a kid? The last of your food for the day?

Guess what? We've done our part. You want to tell us how our taxes should be spent on them? The lives of my friends and the risk to my own, just not enough for ya, huh? Tell you what. You are more than welcome to after your first deployment. Go enlist. Or get a job and start paying those taxes.

Til then, bleating bleat little sheep, we got a Trump at the helm now, and a Mad Dog Mattis that spent his first day as SecDef doing to ISIS what those fucks do to goats, raw with no lube.

haha ok... actually i'm not a kid my age is fake... i'm just some years younger than u

and yeah.. i'm not trying to point finger at u... i guess u do help children and even if u don't, that's none of my concern... i just think that what is happening in Syria is so few broadcasted by the mainstream media when actually they have been suffering a lot... the same applies for children in Nigeria because of Boko Haram

@DooMguy Assad is being in the crosshairs for the same real reasons as Gaddafi and Saddam had been. Syria doesn't have a Central Bank for one, and I think they sell/trade their oil for any other currencies other than the US dollar and since they aren't part of OPEC to begin with. Which refers back to the petrodollar system, if you already know what that is, it has absolutely everything to do with all the various conflicts that had happened throughout the years in the Middle East.

But more importantly the whole thing began in Syria, because Assad had rejected a natural gas pipeline deal proposed to him by Qatar in 2009.

Why would this be significant in terms of geopolitics? Because this pipeline arrangement would significantly strengthen Iran's position, allowing them to export to European markets without having to pass through any of Washington's allies. This obviously reduces the U. S. government's leverage. Thus they can't allow or have this happen no matter what.

@JudgmentDay u started well, u cited some terms that i don't really know much (what do u mean by petrodollar system?) but ur last paragraph just screwed u over

u said that the pipelines would strengthen Iran's position (Iran is enemy of USA, ok) and Assad rejected that pipeline deal. but wait USA is not supporting Assad (at least until Obama's admnistration), actually USA was supporting the rebels because it wanted so bad to take out Assad! So why would USA try to take out the guy who was indirectly helping USA by refusing those pipelines?

Instead, what Assad did that pissed off Qatar, Saudi Arabia and a few others is because in 2011, Assad had forged a pact with Iraq and Iran to run a pipeline eastward, thus this new pipleline deal would completely cut Qatar and Saudi Arabia out of the loop.

@KnightCross Look up the petrodollar system on google and you will see more details and specifics on why it is relevant to wars in the middle east, specifically for Iraq, Libya, etc. It has do with the fact that those nations do not have a Central Bank.

If you really want to understand why Iran is targeted and an enemy to the US, you would need to understand what the Petrodollar system is and how it is relevant, same relevant position and situation to Libya, Iraq being invaded and toppled.

Or specifically look up, the "Nixon shock", and then you may understand why. Or you can always do and what others do and believe the media and propaganda and call people like me crazy or conspiracy theorists. When I discovered it, I couldn't believe it, but it actually made more sense then what the news repeats over and over and presents as the "reasons" and "truths" about "weapons of mass destruction", "human rights violations", etc., and because they never wanted us to ask, or question why?

@JudgmentDay now ur explanation made sense. u omitted that information before so i couldn't figured out properly. yeah, ur theory makes sense. but still in which does that make Assad evil? i mean, why does he necessarily need to leave instead of repressing the rebel forces?

about the petrodollar system well sorry but i dont have all the time in the world to do a research in it... really most of us people here have a LIFE so if u could at least explain the summary of it and other concepts u brought on the table like the Nixon shock, then all of us GAGers would be grateful. it's the same as if i order some people to research some obscure and deep theological stuff when i come with a repply

@Knighcross The Nixon Shock is the most significant event that changed the course of history and lead to where we are now with multiple events going on in the world. Without this event, there would have been no "petrodollar", and there would have been no wars in Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc.

To put it simply for a long time, the US dollar was back by the gold standard since 1944 in the Bretton Woods conference agreement, at the time it was the strongest currency which is how the US dollar became the World Reserve Currency meaning it could be used worldwide without any restrictions as it would be recognized for trade, etc. Meaning at the time throughout until the Nixon sock happened, people can actually convert US dollars into a certain amount of real Gold in ounces worth. This was fine for a long time, and then the Vietnam war happened which caused lots of debts to the US financially.

@KnightCross By 1966 the US had printed more dollars than the amount of actual gold that they have thus resulting in inflation. Countries grew suspicious, and by the time the Vietnam War U. S. deficit (200 billion) was realized late in 1971, countries began asking for their gold. The U. S. simply no longer had it. What was once a nation that held 80 percent of the world’s gold, was almost depleted. President Nixon, at the time, had to act – and act quickly.

So what did President Richard Nixon do that is so significant? He made it clear in his speech to the world there will be no longer be a gold-backed U. S. currency, removing the Gold standard from the dollar completely. It was thought to only be a temporary thing, but eventually became a permanent decision. Without the Gold standard to back the US dollar, the dollar became a debt-based currency, all money is completely loaned into existence. And what do all loans come with? Interests.

@KnightCross But that's where the significant problem with this began, because the money to pay that interest doesn't exist in the system. As a result there is always more total debt than there is money in circulation, and in order to stay afloat the economy must grow perpetually. Meaning this is obviously not sustainable.

Now you might be wondering how the dollar has maintained such a dominant position on the world stage for over forty years if it's really little more than an elaborate ponzi scheme.

Well this is where the dollar meets geopolitics. This is the point in which the petrodollar recycling system is established in order to keep the US dollar afloat that is not backed by any gold anymore.

And so in order to maintain a demand – on a global scale – for the U. S. dollar, similar to that of the original Bretton Woods agreement, a deal is struck with Saudi Arabia. “Oil for dollars” becomes the new world economy. The Petrodollar System is born.

@Knighcross I hope I'm not boring you to death by now, but keep reading if you want to understand why.

So at the time, the acting Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger went to Saudi Arabia and met with their leader to create this agreement. The offer and deal made with them was this, the US specifically asked that Saudi Arabia would price their oil in US currency ONLY and ONLY accept the US dollar without ANY exceptions, in exchange the US would absolutely guarantee them military protection from Israel, providing them weapons, etc. And also, for excess profits made from oil, Saudi Arabia would buy U. S. debt.

For every barrel of oil purchased from Saudi Arabia – from ANY nation – the oil would be purchased in U. S. dollars ONLY.

For those who have ‘foreign’ currency, they would first have to convert to US Dollars before being able to purchase oil.

The deal went through and Saudi Arabia gladly accepted protection for this arrangement.

@KnightCross After this arrangement had been established it removed the traditional restraints on U. S. monetary policy.

The Federal Reserve was now free to increase the money supply at will. The ever increasing demand for oil would prevent a flight from the dollar, while distributing the inflationary consequences across the entire planet.

Did you ever wonder how it is that the U. S. holds such a disproportionate amount of the worlds wealth when 70% of the U. S. economy is consumer based?

In the modern era, fossil fuels make the world go round. They have become integrated into every aspect of civilization: agriculture, transportation, plastics, heating, defense and medicine, and demand just keeps growing and growing.

As long as the world needs oil, and as long as oil is ONLY sold in U. S. dollars, there will ALWAYS be a demand for dollars, and this demand as a result of the Petrodollar arrangement is what gives the dollar its value.

@KnightCross For the United States this is a great deal. Dollars go out, either as paper or digits in a computer system, and real tangible products and services come in. However for the rest of the world, it's a very sneaky form of exploitation.

Having global trade predominately in dollars also provides the Washington with a powerful financial weapon through sanctions. This is due to the fact that most large scale dollar transactions are forced to pass through the U. S.

And for a very long time this "petrodollar" recycling system stood unchallenged. After the beginning of the arrangement with Saudi Arabia, eventually the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) became established, and most of these countries are in the Middle East Region, they wanted in on this deal where they would get protection and weapons, etc. from the US and sell their oil in US dollars only. In the beginning, OPEC consisted of only 5 members: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

@KnightCross Libya eventually joined OPEC in 1962, and so this whole system stood unchallenged and worked really well, because as paper dollars went out, everything America needed came in and the United States got very, very rich as a result.

And then the Petrodollar system eventually became challenged.

Somebody in September 2000 decided that they grew tired of this arrangement and don't want to be on the same page anymore and deviate. Someone had decided that they did not want to sell their country's oil in US dollars anymore. But can you guess who this first person is?

It's really simple. The question is what country did the US invade and attack in 2003? That would be Iraq. Meaning Saddam Hussein was the very first person that challenged this system and grew tired of this "sell or trade my country's oil ONLY for US dollars and nothing else" arrangement.

@KnightCross Now I don't expect you to believe me on what I had just said, but it is the most significant geopolitical event in history, Saddam was the very first person that challenged the petrodollar system and as a result he got into deep shit and big trouble for it. Even I didn't believe any of this until somebody else pointed me to valid sources that confirmed that this event did indeed occur despite it was never really mentioned or brought up in the media or publications.

Again, I did not make this stuff up, see this source for verification:

This is unacceptable to Washington, they know there would be long term and serious consequences for the dollar if one OPEC member break from the arrangement and abandon the US dollar for their oil trades and sales and they had to act fast.

There was going to be some serious consequences and punishment for Saddam's political decision to abandon the US dollar for the sales and trade of his country's oil. In response the U. S. government, with the assistance of the main stream media began to build up a massive propaganda campaign claiming that Iraq had "weapons of mass destruction" and was planning to use them.

By March of 2003 the US invaded Iraq, and once the US had control of Iraq's oil, the sales of Iraq's oil were immediately switched back from Euros to US dollars. See here for verification, as I also did not make this up:

By June 2003, the sales of Iraq's oil had been switched back from Euros to US dollars. Now if nobody else challenges this system, all would be fine, and no more wars after this event, unfortunately that isn't the case.

@KnightCross Iran became the second country that decided to challenge the petrodollar system and also grew tired of this arrangement, they had also switched the sales of their own oil to euros and as a result this stirs up the hornet nest again and pisses off the U. S., which then tried to build a case against them to start a war with them using similar pretext narratives that Iran is in the progress of building a nuclear weapon, etc. This is actually just a smoke screen and cover story. However, the same method that worked before for the US to invade Iraq doesn't work this time around in Iran and they were unable to invade Iran in the same way as they had for Iraq. Instead in order to punish Iran for challenging the petrodollar system, Iran was slapped with economic sanctions. The challenge against the petrodollar system didn't end there, Gaddafi of Libya also didn't want to sell his country's oil ONLY for US dollars either.

@KnightCross As a result Gaddafi got himself into the same kind of big trouble and deep shit that Saddam did. Gaddafi had proposed a new type of currency called the African Dinar which would be completely linked and backed by Gold. This would cause serious consequences to the US dollar, maybe even MORE SEVERE than what Saddam had did, would potentially cause serious economic chaos. As a result, Gaddafi got toppled and killed for this.

One last thing for verification so you know that I did not make up the most significant event in history which lead to where we are now: